Review by Richard Henry for MPM
I first became aware of these guys in 2011 with the album “Agony”. During this time they have continued to push their sound forward. There have been a few line-up changes recently, but I’m really looking forward to hearing what the new album sounds like…
Track 1 – Ode to Art (De Sepolcri)
Francesco and Veronica are the first two things you hear in this lush piano and orchestral landscape that opens up to you in this piece. It really is just beautiful and I think sometimes it’s very easy not to hear all the elements that Francesco brings to the overall sound of the band. And Veronica, what an absolutely stunning voice, as epic an opener as you could wish for!
Track 2 – I can never die
The production is immediately massive and really crisp. For anyone who didn’t know, Eugene immediately shows what an absolute beast he is on the drums. Not an easy position to be in when the lead singer is also a great drummer. The tempo is way up there. I really recommend listening to this with headphones so you can really hear everything. Maybe don’t expect that completely clean chorus where Veronica really features prominently. That second verse with the slower riff but with the changing drum patterns is very clever. Also this chorus is almost pop in a way. Again hear those orchestral elements in the background filling out the sound after the second chorus. Fabio lays down a nice melodic solo before a piano break follows with just piano and Veronica before we slam into a key change and the blast beats. What a musically well put together track, full of twists and turns but so coherent, fantastic!
Track 3 – Pendulum
Slow and menacing, a huge wall of production, choir and atmosphere before Francesco’s vocals come in. This is a really heavy track, the double bass work follows the guitar riff, then a bass break with clean vocals and spoken vocals, then another riff and a huge wall of choir vocals and little string flourishes, easy to miss but you can hear them back there. Again the production really lets the whole thing breathe, I love the middle section with the flying double kicks and the really high operatic vocals. Again the solo is more shred, great tone and lots of technicality, then a really nice guitar and piano duet, very cool part, then back into the wall of sound as this plays out, another banging track!
Title 4 – Bloodclock
Nice intro with what I think is a harp sound, again it sounds so lush with all the orchestral elements, then you get a great riff smash in your face that kicks in, a hyper aggressive blast beat part kicks in, then it goes to halftime which is still a Slayer beat, I love the riff and the vocals on it and then suddenly there’s that intro part again with a spoken voice before the chorus goes crazy in tempo but again there’s so much to listen to with all the choirs and the orchestral parts in the background of the mix during the chorus, like I said at the beginning with every album they get better and this one is no exception, when Veronica comes in in the middle it’s a nice change from the chaos of the song so far, nice melodic solo right there, listen to the mix after the solo and everything that’s happening, really loved this track, so much happening but such a great mix of heavy and melody!
Track 5 – At war with my soul
This is an ominous opening, it sounds so grand and epic, that slow double bass and brass gliding over this syncopated riff and then when the female vocal comes in with the deep speaking voice you can hear it all building up. I really liked how you switched from blast beats to slow parts and how you contrasted the vocals accordingly. I think I’ll say this with every song but Fabio plays just right for every song so far, nice change of tempo after the solo, with the screams in the background of the mix while a speaking voice in Italian goes over the riff and orchestral part before the harsh vocals come back in, interesting ending to this song!
Title 6 – Morphine Waltz
The beginning of this needs to be learned on guitar, neoclassical metal at its finest, then Veronica takes over on lead vocals, from here on it gets a bit more aggressive, it really is like Yngwie got lost in a death metal band, I love this track, Francesco’s aggressive vocals cross over with Veronica’s vocals so work it, this almost reminds me of the breach with the classical parts, the drumming in the middle is absolutely insane by Eugene, and the walls of choir vocals come in before oh yeah another absolutely glorious solo follows, a repeat of the intro sweeps, then the chorus again, this might be my favourite Fleshgod track of all time!
Title 7 – Matricide 8.21
Heartbeat and an operatic vocal come in but almost like a radio show, not just at the top of the mix but enough to know something is coming and when it does come the beginning is so melodic and unexpected, spoken vocals from Francesco on the verse over a driving floor tom drum beat, there’s a classical counterpoint riff right there before we get to that intro again, I love how this is put together, it surprised me with its melody, I absolutely love this, really piano driven in parts too, when it moves into the choir and Veronica’s vocals it sounds so beautiful and then the piano comes in too, it’s a proper landscape, you want me to talk about the solo, yeah it’s pretty perfect, another absolutely amazing track!
Track 8 – Per Aspera Ad Astra
Yes this is fast, straight into it with a dense soundscape of frenetic guitar and drums and a wall of synths, the riff that comes after is just fucking mean, followed by Eugene firing off the drums like a machine gun, then it flows into another groove until we get to a huge chorus, you’d swear it’s film music, when they get aggressive it never loses the melody, that’s what these guys are really excelling at at the moment, bringing almost pop melodic elements to the heaviest music you can imagine and it works so well, I love that piano break and the reverb soaked guitar line that then blasts out while the tempo goes crazy beforehand and then it slows down really well again for the chorus, what a track!
Track 9 – Till death do us part
A really slow groove to start with, a melodic guitar line over very slow deliberate chords that just lets you take it all in before you get a piano, vocal and drum part for the verse, very slow and the focus is very much on the main vocals, then it segues into that guitar line while Veronica’s vocals rise and in the background of the mix you can hear all the orchestral elements, it’s not until halfway through the song that you get the more aggressive vocals breaking with the guitar playing the chords higher before there’s a key change, look we all know I’m going to talk about the solo, perfect, all I have to say it’s perfect, I love the way it fades out and Veronica just hums the melody before you hear the needle being pulled off the record!
Track 10 – Opera
The piano starts off similar to how the album started. Francesco (piano) really deserves more credit than he gets. The guy is truly a great composer/musician and I see him bringing his skills to other bands as well. Just listen to this outro of the album. It’s fitting to end it this way. It rounds off the beginning perfectly!
10 out of 10
If I could give it a higher score, I would. This is without a doubt Fleshgod’s best album, and I love their other albums. The playing, songwriting, vocals, and production are just on another level. This is an absolute masterpiece, and I’d be surprised if it wasn’t my album of the year!
Buy/Stream opera: https://fga.bfan.link/opera
